LD 3899 

.A3 

1861 

Copy 1 



REPUBLICAX HOMES 




AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



ASSOCIATION OF THE ALUMNI 

OF THE 

%tiwity of tk $ity of %m-% ovh, 

ON THE EVENING PRECEDING THE COMMENCEMENT, 
June 19th, 1861. 

BY THE 

REV. EDWARD HOPPER, A.M., 

Of the Class of 1839. 



OFFICERS OF ASSOCIATION, MEETING OF ALUMNI, AND CONSTI- 
TUTION OF ASSOCIATION. 




,?Kr- 



UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
1861. 





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LD 3899 
.A3 
1861 
Copy 1 



REPUBLICAN HOMES 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



ASSOCIATION OF THE ALUMNI 



^ufottfttg <rf the $itjj of Uw-IJotffe, 



ON THE EVENING PRECEDING THE COMMENCEMENT 



June 19th, ISOl. 



REV. EDWARD HOPPER, A.M., 



Of the Class of 1839. 



OFFICERS OF ASSOCIATION, MEETING OF ALUMNI, AND CONSTI- 
TUTION OF ASSOCIATION. 



TT IN" I V E R S I r r Y !P R E S S . 
18 6 1. 



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NEW YORK FUBL. I*®*. 
IN EXCHANGE. 



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OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION, 

FOB 

THE "^"DS-A-IFl. 1861-62. 



|lresibmi 
JOHN T. JOHNSTON, 

THOMAS B. STIRLING. 

^ctrdnriT. 
HANSON C. GIBSON. 

treasurer. 
SMITH E. LANE. 

Agister. 
RICHARD H. BULL. 

fecutiuc Committee. 

WILLIAM B. WEDGWOOD, 
WILLIAM W. STEPHENSON, 
EDWIN J. OWEN. 
ETHAN ALLEN. 



240 Broadway, Jime 26th, 1861. 
Rev. Edward Hopper, Sag Harbor : 

Dear Sir : I take great pleasure in informing you that at the annual meet- 
ing of the Association of the Alumni of the University of the City of New- York, 
held Thursday, June 20th, 1861, it was unanimously resolved : "That the thanks 
of the Association be tendered to Rev. Edward Hopper, for the able oration 
delivered before the Association on the evening of Wednesday, June 19th, 1861, 
and that a copy of the same be requested for publication." 

On behalf of the Association, therefore, I request you to forward to me a 
copy of your oration, for publication, at your earliest convenience. Hoping to 
receive from you an affirmative reply to my request, 
I remain, yours very truly, 

H. C. GIBSON, 
Secretary Alumni Association. 



Sag Harbor, July 1st, 1861. 
II C. GrBSOx, Esq., 

Secretary Alumni Association : 

Dear Sir : I have received your letter, in which, with such kind words, you 
inform me that the Alumni Association, at their late meeting, unanimously voted 
me their thanks for my oration, and a request for a copy thereof for publi- 
cation. 

I feel myself honored by the approbation of my fellow- Alumni, and although 
aware of many imperfections in my oration, I accede to their wish to have it 
published, with a humble trust that it may be of some service to our beloved 
country in this time of her trial. 

Yours truly, EDWARD HOPPER. 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 






Mr. President and Brother Alumni : 

I am glad to meet you around the hearth-stone of our Alma 
Mater. We here refresh our hearts as well as our memories. 
We renew our youth, vivify our affections, and gain strength. 
for the duties of life to which our clear mother sent us forth. 
It is pleasant to be under the old roof once more ; to hear 
again the resounding footsteps, and the merry laugh in the fa- 
miliar halls; to feel ourselves boys again, receiving the sweet 
smiles which so kindly fostered and cheered us while pursuing 
our studies. 

Those were happy days of youth, hope, and home; and 
coming back here we bring those days with us. Time and se- 
paration have only added to the well-deserved affection we then 
had for our university, to which we can each say most heartily 
to-night : 

" ct praesidium et dulce decus meum." 

When children long scattered return to the old homestead, 
it is to embrace their parents and each other ; to refresh their 
love, and to receive the parental benedictions. So do we here 
to-night ; and we pledge especially our ripening love to her 
who loved our boyhood and gave us intellectual food, and train- 
ed us up for God and native land. 

Here hope, like an angel, kept us company, and pointed us 
high up to honorable seats to be reached by rugged paths. 
Now memory keeps us company, and, in our wanderings, points 
us back to these pleasant halls where hope made her bright 
promises, and from which Matthews, Frelinghuysen or Ferris, 



6 REPUBLICAN HOMES. 

(honored names,) and their honorable co-laborers, sent us forth 
with parchment commencement-cards — tickets of admission into 
the world. 

Those were peaceful times when we sat under the vine of 
our Alma Mater — a strange contrast with, these which alarm 
and vex our beloved country with the horrors of war waged 
against her by unnatural children. But these are times to try 
the affections and fidelity of men ; and they control the chan- 
nel of our thoughts, direct them as we will, along with the 
great rushing tide which is bearing the old flag in triumph, and 
sweeping its foes into destruction. We are now realizing, in 
our own Eepublic, what we then read of concerning others in 
the classics of old Greece and Home. And if the traitors of 
our times exceed theirs in infamy, the heroes of our Eepublic 
shall excel theirs in glory. On this account, I trust the theme 
which I have chosen for consideration this evening will not be 
counter to your thoughts, nor altogether unprofitable. 

Republican homes have no little influence on the fate of the 
Eepublic. There is an intimate connection between home-love 
and love of country, as the word patriotism itself implies. And 
it is natural to expect that a true patriotism, which is the high- 
est virtue of a man as a citizen, should be the product of the 
most virtuous home. 

The ties which bind us to home and kindred are the same as 
those which bind us to our country; Local attachments, the 
laws of association, remembrances of the past, hopes of the 
future, domestic relations, endearments and duties, and the most 
secred obligations — all bind the true heart both to home and 
native land. 

Thus home and country are clamped together hy the strong- 
est affections of which the human heart is capable. And thus 
the Eepublic is supported by the homes which it protects, as 
a building is supported by the foundations which it covers. 
From them it derives existence, strength, and progress; 
on them it depends for perpetuity and glory. Men make the 
state. The character of all countries must always be as the 
character of their home-circles, but most of all is this true of a 
Eepublic. 

A great river is a noble sight — a thing of life, beauty, and 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 7 

power, flowing on its course majestically, bearing on its waves 
numberless vessels laden with treasures, beautifying and enrich- 
ing its banks, scattering bounty over the land through which 
it flows, and lavishing its wealth, through commerce, on the 
world. Such a river is our prosperous country. But how is 
the river fed ? Whence and where are the sources to supply its 
constant waste ? We must look to the hillside and valley, to 
the rills in the far-off woods, to the springs in the moun- 
tains, and to the water-brooks that run laughing across the 
meadows ; many of these are concealed in brush, and copse, 
and tangle- wood, unseen, unknown by the world ; unsung ex- 
cept by their own sweet music. What these springs, and rills, 
and water-brooks are to the river, the people's homes are to 
the Eepublic. The Eepublic depends as absolutely upon them as 
a river upon its fountains. If these cease, the river is exhaust- 
ed ; if they are impure, the river is foul ; if they are full and 
free, and send forth clear, sweet, laughing waters, the river 
rises in majesty and flows with increasing strength and glory. 

The great river of our national life has thus far marked its 
course with exuberant growth and fruitfulness. It has made 
historic impressions, on its banks, of great deeds and heroic 
hearts. But unless its fountains are kept pure, its glory will 
depart. The torrents of foul passions and stormy hate will 
make its waters cast up mire and dirt, and, overflowing its 
banks, leave the debris of depravity a rank soil in which vice 
will flourish and corrupt the air with its fatal miasma, "like the 
fat weed that rots itself on Lethe's wharf." 

If we trace the universal home-love to its origin and end, we 
shall find them in the munificent wisdom and goodness of the 
Creator, not only for the perpetuity of the race and the glory 
of his church, but also for the perpetuity and glory of the 
state. 

lie himself built the first home for man on the earth ; he 
married the first happy pair, and placed them in the home he 
had prepared. The devil entered that happy home as he has 
many a one since, and marred its happiness. But the domestic 
relations were not destroyed. The conjugal, the parental, and 
fraternal relations remain, and make home a necessity to man. 
And Eve's home-sickness and lamentation on leaving Paradise, 



8 REPUBLICAN HOMES. 

so pathetically described by Milton, she has transmitted to all 
her children as an inheritance to be handed to each on their 
first leaving home. 

Thus, as the birds instinctively build their nests, and the 
blasts look out their coverts, where they can best rear their 
young, so God has constituted for man the family relations, 
and endowed him with faculties to choose and regulate a home 
adapted to his condition and dignity, and the ends of his exist- 
ence. This is man's primitive society. 

The state also is a divine institution. The government of 
the state, as much as that of the family, is ordained of God. 
And the one must subserve the other. The home was never 
designed to be an isolated cavern, unconnected with society at 
large, but a component part of the great community, to receive 
and to give its share of the common stock of advantages. 
Each home, it is true, has an individuality and a government 
of its own ; but it is also a particle in the body of the nation 
from which it derives political life, protection and importance, 
and is subordinate to the laws of the state which it can not dis- 
obey with impunity. It follows that a home, to subserve its 
ends, must be a sanctuary of home-loves ; must provide protec- 
tion, shelter, food, and comfort for the young, and a wise . deve- 
lopment and discipline of their physical strength, and mental 
faculties, and hearts' affections, and be esteemed as a channel 
through which parents may transmit their names to posterity 
and divide- the fruits of their industry or genius. But besides 
all these, the home, to reach its end in relation to the state, must 
be a school of patriotism. Among the first objects of parents 
should be the training of children worthy of the Eepublic ; 
among the first duties taught the children should be to do the 
Republic no harm, but to live for its good, and if necessary, 
die in its defense. For these great ends the school is auxiliary 
to the home. 

These are among the grand purposes for which the Creator 
has constituted the family, the primary society, and govern- 
ment among men. He created the fountains of parental and 
filial love, that children might be trained with all the virtues to 
serve their God and country. And the home-love, so univer- 
sal and irresistible, is a constituent element in the strength of 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 9 

the state, so long as the relative obligations and duties of the 
home and the state are properly reciprocated and performed. 

Here is the strength, of our Republic. This is the secret 
strength of this young Samson of the nations. It is in our 
virtuous homes, and in that deep love which the Creator has im- 
planted in the heart for a virtuous home — for parents, for wife, 
for children, and brothers and sisters there. And this gives us 
a far-reaching view of that infinite beneficence which has clamp- 
ed society together with hooks stronger than steel, and has 
made a free, self-governing state not only possible, but the only 
legitimate state of a virtuous, intelligent people. There can be 
no stronger defence for a state. 

For what is stronger than this home-love ? It is the last 
thing that even vice itself crushes out of the human heart. 
The heart abandoned of virtue is still haunted in some of its 
lonely chambers by the ghosts of its departed home-joys. The 
memories of the old homestead, of childhood's innocence and 
sports, of a father's counsels, a mother's prayers, a sister's love, 
like good angels, follow the prodigal in his sinful wanderings, to 
bring him back. 

How many noble, good men, great in the field and in the 
councils of the Eepublic, have traced their success in life and 
their ability to do the state some service, to home-influences. 
The ripe fruits of their wisdom and actions came from the seeds 
which their parents planted in their young hearts and minds. 
A father's remembered advice, the unforgotten vision of a 
mother on her knees, praying for (rod's blessing on her boy, 
have strengthened them under their burdens, nerved them in 
the battle, shielded them in the temptations of life, and kept 
them steadily in the path of virtue, and up the rugged hill of 
duty, till they reached the high places of honor. How many 
great men, when at the last their greatness was departing, when 
the realities of this world were becoming shadows, and the 
shadows of the dim world beyond were becoming realities, 
have seen a mother's form bending over them as in their child- 
hood, and have spoken among their last words that sacred and 
never-forgotten word — Mother ! 

The traveler separates himself from home, but does not 
break the ties which bind him to it. Oceans and mountains 
2 



10 REPUBLICAN HOMES. 

interposing, only make the ties more tender, and the loved place 
more dear, and its treasures more precious. 

What sacred memories cluster around the old homestead ! 
They hang on the vines at the door, smell sweet in the favor- 
ite plants in the windows, bloom in the garden, and blossom 
and ripen with the fruit on the trees in the orchard. There 
we played in childhood, related strange wizard stories, built 
mimic ships and houses, and had just such delicious day-dreams 
and fairy hopes as our children have now. We had our sor- 
rows, but they are forgotten, and we remember mostly our joys. 
Our father and mother lived, toiled and prayed for us there. 
What a well of love ! They gave us what all the world could 
not have given us — the crystal waters of parental love ; and 
they drew up for us also waters of wisdom out of Grod's book, 
and they called down from above heavenly life on our souls. 
Our sisters and brothers lived there — we loved and played and 
said our prayers together. And when death came and took 
one of our number to the angels, grief made the home more 
sacred ; and after a while we grew up and went forth to homes 
of our own — but they are not so precious as the homes of our 
childhood. 

Back to the happy hearth and haunts of childhood 

We go in dreams, to be again a boy, 
To meet once more the blessed homestead angels 

Who gave us drink from their own cups of joy. 

Oft they divided with us their possessions, 

And sang for us the sweetest songs they had ; 

They carried off our foolish cares of childhood, 
And smiled away the thoughts that made us sad. 

Oh ! how we loved them when we heard their voices, 

Along the gentle brooks and in the trees ; 
Now singing with the birds, now with the waters, 

Then with the plaintive spirits of the breeze ! 

On winter evenings, round the cheerful fireside 
We felt their glowing cheeks against our own, 

And bowing at the blest domestic altar, 

We heard them whispering of the heavenly throne. 

Ofttimes we heard them in our mother's stanzas, 

While singing as a mother only sings, 
And as our eyelids closed, they sat beside her, 

And covered us, while sleeping, with their wings. 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 11 

We saw them in our playmates' happy faces, 

If angels ever looked from mortal eyes ; 
And when one died, our infant faith assured us 

She'd gone home with the angels of the skies. 

Oh ! happy then were we with home and kindred, 
By winter hearth, or summer's fragrant grove : 

Each part of our sweet home seemed part of heaven, 
So well the angels wove their spell of love. 

■Why is this poor man's home dearer to him than all others? 
Though others be richer and more refined — palaces, while his 
is a hut ; filled with luxuries, while his lacks comforts ; nay, 
though it be the abode of sickness and sorrow, where his ear 
is daily pained with the moanings of suffering and grief — he 
would not exchange it for the other, where resounds the music 
and dance. Why ? For the same reason that every body's 
home is dearer to him than all others. It is because the loved 
ones are there — wife and children, or parents and brothers and 
sisters, and all the sacred memories of grief and joy. 
-And why is it that our country is dearer to us than anv 
other ? There is indeed no other in the world so worthy to be 
loved. But why so worthy ? Because it shields our homes ; 
it protects our vine and fig-tree, the inheritance of our fathers ; 
it holds the sacred ashes of our ancestors, and keeps inviolate 
the blessings they bequeathed to us, fruits of their toil and 
sufferings. It was baptized with their blood when it received 
its name among the nations, and thus every part of it has be- 
come as dear to us almost as the God's-acres which hold their 
hallowed dust. They prepared the highway for our progress, 
and laid the foundations of the Kepublic. They felled the thick 
forests to let in the light. They reared the altars of religion, 
and startled the deserts with songs of Christ, as the angels did 
the night-air on the plains of Bethlehem. They built this 
beautiful temple of liberty, which }^et stands for the protection 
of their children and the hope of mankind, though traitors', 
working like rats in the dark, have tried to undermine its 
corner-stone. This our fathers did. By God's good help, they 
prepared a place for us — a goodly heritage — altars, homes, and 
temple of liberty ; and by the help of their good God, we mean 
to keep them for ourselves and for all future generations of our 



12 KEPUBLICAN HOMES. 

children who shall love God and keep his commandments. 
Why ? The blood of our ancestors is in our veins ; our homes 
— -some of them are the very homes they lived in, others are 
the fruit of theirs, as the new plant is the fruit of the old ; and 
then those terrible trials of our fathers and mothers — and of 
theirs before them — of poverty, hunger, thirst and rapine, of 
battles, wounds and death, and the living death of suspense. 
Why, those times of the Ee volution are bound to our times by 
the strongest cords that ever bound past and present together ; 
they are cemented by the purest blood that ever joined heart, 
to heart, and hallowed by as holy memories as ever made the 
martyrs of one generation dear to their descendants of the 
next. We are not so far apart from " the times that tried men's 
souls " but that we yet hear the echoes of our heroic age. Some 
of us have listened, with tingling ears and burning hearts, to 
venerable men and women relating the story of their hardships, 
dangers, and battles. And they who would destroy our coun- 
try will, if they succeed, tear all our hearts asunder; they must- 
snap the tenderest roots of affection that have twined around 
the dear homes of our forefathers ; that have been watered*by 
their tears, sanctified by their sufferings, and hallowed by their 
graves. The defence of our Government is therefore a personal 
matter with every one of us. Every happy home in the land 
has its roots around the graves of the best men that ever suffered 
and died for liberty and their children. All that is dear to us 
on earth — homes, altars, affections, memories, and hopes — de- 
pend upon the perpetuity of our country. 

This is the secret of our country's power. It protects the 
homes and the home-loves of the people, and by the law of 
reciprocity, it has these homes for its shield and this love for its 
sword. 

Thus armed, the Eepublic is invincible ; for the strength 
of love is next to omnipotent. Its nature is to make sacrifice 
for its object; its law is the law of reciprocity. Only such a 
government as ours, so paternal and beneficent, can be loved 
as ours is loved. This is the reason why ours is the strongest 
government on earth. It has the hearts of the people ; and it 
has the hearts of the people because it deserves to have them ; 
it fulfills the high duties of government, mingling the author- 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 13 

ity of law with the tenderness of affection ; it shields the peo- 
ple as the eagle covers her young ; it seeks the protection, 
happiness, and advancement of all alike, as a mother does for 
her children."' The humblest citizen, home-born or adopted, 
at home or abroad, on land or sea, is as dear to her as the 
apple of her eye. And woe to the wretch that dare assail him ! 
Though he wear a crown, it shall not shield him from her 
wrath ! Though oceans intervene, she will reach him, and 
though he have millions of vassals, through them all she will 
strike for her child. No wonder that such a mother is loved ! 
No wonder that when strange children turned against her, as 
Lucifer did against heaven, and struck her sacred person at 
Fort Sumter, millions of hearts sprang in a moment between 
her and the maniac-blows. 

This is the nature and glory of our Government. It is a 
government of reciprocity — of love, not of fear ; of freedom, 
not of force ; of moral restraint, not of despotic power. It is 
every man's interest to defend it, because it defends every 
man's interests. 

But it is evident that onty the virtuous and intelligent are 
capable of such a government. A debased and vicious peo- 
ple, who yield themselves to passions and not to moral re- 
straints, can be governed only hy force. Such people must 
pay despots for restraining them; for making laws to bind 
their consciences, and to hamstring their tongues, and for com- 
pelling them to do right. It is therefore no little honor to a 
people to be self-governing, for it shows that they have intelli- 
gence and moral power — that they have virtue, without which 
it is impossible to be free. 

Such a people voluntarily and cheerfully yield that which 
is due to the Government. They who first render to God the 
things that are God's, are sure to render to Caesar the things 
that are Caesar's. Our Government relies upon moral principle, 
upon subordination which springs from intelligence, and upon 
obedience which springs from affection. But just so far as 
moral restraint is decreased, force must be increased. When 
virtue ceases, force must take its place. There must be govern- 
ment, and it must be strong enough to control all the elements 
which compose a nation : otherwise there will be discord and 



14 REPUBLICAN HOMES. 

anarchy, instead of order and law. The tendency of all. wicked- 
ness in the individual is toward anarchy in the state. Vice 
is despotism ; virtue is freedom. 

i From these principles we can readily perceive what Eepub- 
lican homes should be in order to perpetuate the Eepublic. 
In a Eepublic, the people are the acknowledged fountain of 
all power. The home-circles, therefore, where the people are 
made, should be the abodes of virtue and intelligence, and send 
forth such children as shall not curse but bless the land. The 
proper development of the physical powers, and the right edu- 
cation and discipline of the heart and intellect of her children, 
are what the Eepublic asks of her homes. She protects the 
eagles' nests, that they may send out eagles. Alas ! that they 
should ever have sheltered serpents ! Good men die, and our 
homes must supply the waste by raising up other good men. 
We can not live on the virtues of our ancestors any more than 
we can on our last week's dinners. We must imitate them. 
The glorious heritage which they transmitted to us we must 
preserve for those who shall come after us. To do this, we 
must be what they were. 

The homes which are the fountains of the Eepublic must 
be kept pure. Her life is in her homes, as sure as the life of 
the body is in the blood. There we can all serve our country, 
by making our homes what they should be for our country's 
strength and glory ; where brave hearts, and strong limbs, 
and clear minds are trained to go forth in her behalf ; where 
children are moulded into citizens by a training which blends 
obedience Avith self-respect, subordination with independence, 
submission with manliness, and self-denial with self-mainten- 
ance ; where idleness is abhorred, and work is honored ; where 
'vice is shunned as the gate of hell, and virtue is loved as the 
• door of heaven ; where the young are taught to respect the 
gray-headed, to reverence authority, to utter only truth, to ren- 
der to all their dues, to yield to the laws, to suppress the pas- 
sions, to love God and keep his commandments. 

The home government which seeks these ends, with a just 
mixture of firmness and fondness, is a bulwark stronger than 
rocks for the Eepublic. It supplies her with men by the only 
•process by which men are made ; by an education and discipline 



EEPUBLICAN HOMES. 15 

which knits the physical frame into compact strength to endure 
hardships, and schools the intellectual powers into harmonious 
action and strength, and trains the heart in all the gentle 
offices of love. 

The Eepublic composed of such men w r ill be strong, com- 
pact, and beautiful — can laugh at the attacks of traitors, and 
stand the pressure of a world in arms. 

But what if her homes are the abodes of vice or effeminate 
luxurjr, and send out hot-house plants that wilt in the outer air, 
idlers who only work as the devil's journeymen ; lordlings un- 
taught to restrain themselves, but trained, by disobedience of 
home-laws, to disobey those of the State ; and by insubordination 
to parental authority, to rebel against all government — what 
would become of the nation if such were the uniform product 
of her families? Speedy decay and a grave would soon be 
her fate if Young America should turn out vile, revengeful, 
idle, and drunken, not fearing God nor man. She would soon 
add another name to the melancholy list of Eepublics which 
have died of their vices. From such an end may God help us to 
defend her, and he will, if we are faithful to our home-duties. 

They most surely and effectually serve their country who 
most faithfully and assiduously cultivate the domestic virtues. 
No matter how humble their lot or obscure their names, they 
deserve the honor of a real patriotism. They are building 
moral fortresses and digging trenches which resist the most 
formidable enemies. Every virtuous, happy home is a castle 
of strength to the country. lie who builds up such a home 
builds a bulwark of liberty, and helps to make his country im-, 
pregnable. 

On the contrary, what must be thought of their patriotism 
who kill the home virtues and destroy its happiness ? who raise 
up imps instead of men for their country ? who when she asks 
of them citizens, give drones and idlers instead, and vicious 
vampires to suck her blood? Are not such men, instead of 
serving their country, poisoning her fountains and undermining 
her foundations? 

And what shall we say of another set who hardly deserve to, 
have any thing said of them, and yet are offended by neglect 



16 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 






— I mean the hard-shell bachelors. These men, only noted for 
toughness and incorrigibility, pride themselves on doing the 
Kepublic no harm, but they do not deserve well of the Kepublic. 
These hard-shells, wrapped in layer upon layer of selfishness, 
go solitary and alone, like turtles in the woods, carrying their 
houses on their backs wherever they go, and it matters little to 
them if any one else has a house or not. At least they are de- 
termined to look sharp before they allow any one to share with 
them a habitation and a name. Consequently they form no 
local attachments, they build no home defenses to shield the 
Republic — only castles in the air to deceive themselves. Shall 
we advocate the reenactment of those ancient laws which in- 
flicted disabilities and penalties upon this class of men ? No ! 
They do not deserve it. No legislature could be sustained by 
public opinion in such a course. These men inflict miseries 
enough upon themselves. Wifeless, homeless, miserable men, 
puffed up with hotel-dinners and self-complacency, " with none 
to bless them, none whom they may bless ; 17 compelled to make 
pets of favorite cats and dogs ; to force their bunions into boots 
far too small for them ; to dye their whiskers to keep their hopes 
from dying ; so perfectly hallucinated as to believe the ladies ad- 
mire when they only pity them ; and doomed to stand watch- 
ing a forlorn chance to marry, as a gray grimalkin watches to 
catch a mouse. But the mouse does not appear, and gray grim- 
alkin is disappointed for the thousandth time — and so on to 
the end of the catalogue. Well may such men envy the happy 
householder ! But let us not add to " the sorrows of a poor 
old man " by any legislative enactments. 

From these we gladly turn our eyes to another class — not of 
men, nor of those who wish to be men, but to the women of 
America. 

There is said to be no land in the world where woman is so 
honored and loved as in our own ; and I suppose it must be, 
that no where else is woman so worthy to be loved and honored. 
In no other land is her influence so great. She is indeed a 
power in the Republic ; gentleness has made her great ; home 
is her kingdom ; there she is more than a queen ; virtue is her 
crown, love is her sceptre, her children are her jewels, and true 
hearts her subjects. 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 17 

She may not handle the saw, the plane, the axe,' the trowel, 
or the plow; she may not occupy the pulpit, the rostrum, the 
forum, or the President's chair; but she will raise men who 
shall. She holds the destiny of the Eepublic in her hands. 
The Eepublic will be what our homes make it, and our homes 
will be what woman makes them. 

" While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand, 
AVhen falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall." 

The Coliseum of our Republic is virtuous woman. Pure, in- 
telligent, religious, refined mothers, wives, daughters, control 
our national destiny. While they live, the Republic can not 
die ; if they die, the Republic can not live. 

The principles which I have advanced are now in the cruci- 
ble. The fiery ordeal through which the Republic is now pass- 
ing will test the virtue of its homes, whether they have or have 
not degenerated. It is evident that some of them have, or 
there could be no such incendiary fires as now rage in the tem- 
ple of our Liberty. 

In my opinion there are two antagonistic home-forces uoav 
met face to face on our battle-fields. Treason and rebellion are 
in arms against law and order. Like Milton's devils, they who 
deem it " better to rule in hell than serve in heaven," cover 
their rebellion with a kind of argument. But the origin of 
this movement is opposition to the spirit and letter of the Re- 
public. It lies back of political ambition and lust of power 
Its birth was in domestic circles, from which Republican sim- 
plicity and equality have been driven by the spirit of oligarchy 
and despotism. Steadily, for half a century, that domineering 
spirit has been growing and spreading from house to house, 
from county to county, and from State to State. Circumstances, 
and the hot sun of the South, have favored its increase, until, 
at length, it chafes under restraints, brooks no control, and will 
not be governed at all. If " the child is father of the man," it 
is not strange that children trained to tyrannize over an inferior 
race, and allowed to witness and practice insubordination and 
despotism at home, should grow into the belief that insubordi- 
nation and despotism are their natural and inalienable rights in 
the State. In such domestic circles, the idea was legitimately 
3 



18 REPUBLICAN HOMES. 

begotten that despotism is the best government for a free State, 
and slavery the trae corner-stone of the temple of Liberty. 

And how could it be otherwise ? Children who play with 
the sumach of the swamp, will be inoculated with its poison. 
Masters, from boyhood, of servile subjects who make no resist- 
ance to their demands ; unaccustomed to manual labor; regard- 
ing those who toil as only the equals of slaves — themselves as 
gentlemen ; indolent at first by necessity, afterwards by habit ; 
having unlimited leisure, frequent temptations, and few re- 
straints; making self- gratification the rule, self-denial the ex- 
ception ; but- little subject to the controlling power of moral 
and educational discipline ; living under a code of social morals 
which permits self-revenge as a substitute for the slower process 
of law — is it any wonder that in such nests treason and rebellion 
could be hatched ? Such game-cocks come out of just such 
eggs. 

" The gods arc just, and of our pleasant vices 
Make instruments to scourge us." 

It is a beneficent decree that by the sweat of his brow man 
shall eat his bread ; and if he refuse to labor, and force his bread 
from the sweat of others, he injures himself and his children 
more than he does them. The home must be a hive or there 
will be no honey there ; and if not honey, then moth and mil- 
dew. Idleness breeds vices like itself, and these breed death. 

To trample in the dust this serpent Treason, and to quench 
the incendiary fires of this unholy rebellion, the busy hives of 
the North have poured out their swarming multitudes. Strong, 
lithe-limbed, stalwart, hardy, with tough hands and tender 
hearts ; from palace and hut, counting-room and counter, city 
and country, shop, forge, field, and study ; from halls of learn- 
ing and even from the pulpit ; men have poured forth, like bees 
whose hives have been attacked, like men whose homes have 
been assailed. 

Cornelias have brought out their jewels and laid them at the 
feet of the Republic. Mothers have given their sons, wives 
their husbands, sisters their brothers, maidens their lovers ; and 
placing the old Flag in their hands, have, bid them defend to 
the death the land of whose greatness, union, and glory, it is 
the symbol. Such women are like the Lydia Gates, the Rachel 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 19 

Martins, the widow Andersons, and Catharine Schuylers of the 
Revolution. And the sons of such mothers are sure of victory. 
Men of whom it was said at the South, They are cowards! if 
you injure them they forgive you ; if you strike them they pray 
for you ! such men are terrible in battle. Men who are slow 
to appeal to arms till all other means have foiled, are not the 
worse soldiers on that account. They who go into the conflict 
with prayers and hymns to Christ, are not on that account less 
likely to come out victorious. 

Traitors mistook the magnanimous forbearance of the Gov- 
ernment for pusillanimity. They fancied the Government to be 
dead at their feet. They thought their guns against Fort 
Sumter had commenced a funeral discourse over the dead 
body of the Union. But the funeral sermon awoke the corpse! 
It is said of Bossuet, the great French preacher, that in begin- 
ning one of his celebrated funeral orations, his first sentence 
was so eloquent it brought all his audience to their feet. But 
those guns at Sumter were more eloquent, if we may judge 
by the results. At their first utterance, twenty millions of free- 
men sprang to their feet. That which was meant to be the 
funeral oration over a dead patriotism, proved to be the trum- 
pet of its glorious resurrection. Another Minerva sprang full- 
armed from the cleft head of Jupiter. An armed nation arose 
out of this providence of God. Legions came up out of the 
ground with gleaming bayonets and rumbling cannon-wheels ; 
forth they sallied from the foundation-stones of the Republic — 
its well-guarded, virtuous, Republican homes. 

They have gone forth with the home-love in their hearts, the 
home-kisses on their cheeks, and the home-prayers following 
them ; and woe to the enemies that strike at the Republic, when 
these men strike back ! 

We can not doubt the result. With such brave hearts united 
like shields between her and her danger, the Republic is safe. 
She will come out of this contest stronger than she went in. 
She shrunk with horror from entering the cloud : but it was 
not fear. Her prayer was, that it might pass away ; but Ho 
who rules the nations had otherwise ordained. Now we are in 
the shadow which His great purpose casts before. Doubtless 
the purpose itself is luminous with love and glory. We need 



20 EEPUBLICAN HOMES. 

not fear. The aeronaut, ascending above the clouds, looks 
down upon the storm below ; he sees the flashing thunderbolts 
and thick, rushing tempest, and blackness, and darkness under- 
neath him, while all around and above him is beautiful, calm 
sunshine. So may we ascend above these tempestuous times 
to a serene and glorious atmosphere. Only let us have faith in 
the God of our fathers, who has loved our nation from its birth, 
and who hath " his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and 
the clouds are the dust of his feet." , 

It is not permitted us to penetrate his counsels ; but we can 
judge of the present by the past, and from past and present we 
can hope for the future. Our country shall come out of the 
tempest cleansed and purified — a wiser, better and greater land. 
Her career is to be more glorious than before. Hercules cleans- 
ed the Augean stables by causing a river to flow through tnem. 
The corrupt pools and filth of our politics will be swept away 
by the torrents which these storms produce. Selfish dema- 
gogues shall give place to pure statesmen; noisy assurance to 
modest worth. The storm that shakes the tree of liberty makes 
its roots strike deeper in the soil. The thunder of the storm 
clears the air ; the torrents cleanse the filthy streets ; the light- 
ning makes sacred what it strikes ! Henceforth the Kepublie 
is to be the Pharos of the nations as well as the asylum for the 
down-trodden. The light of her example shall equal the truth 
of her words ; and when she lifts up her voice, like a trumpet, 
to bid the tyrants of earth "Let the oppressed go free," they 
shall no more cast back at her the proverb: "Physician, heal 
thyself." 

Our storm-rocked homes shall be dearer than ever. Their 
hearthstones shall be engraved with stories of fresh sufferings 
for freedom ; and the domestic altars glow with new incense of 
thanksgiving. All over our vast domain these homes shall 
stand, like faithful sentinels, to guard the Kepublie for genera- 
tions to come. Beautiful homes — abodes of purity, peace, and 
plenty, where the domestic virtues and love of country inter- 
twine and flourish, like the loving vines at the door ; where Ke- 
publican simplicity of manners is the fashion ; where industry, 
frugality, and honest work are honorable ; where true independ- 
ence and obedience to law are taught and exemplified ; where 
the Bible is the rule of life, and God is worshipped. 



REPUBLICAN HOMES. 21 

As long as our land teems with such homes, we shall avoid 
the two extremes which curse all others : the luxurious pride 
which precedes a fall, and the hopeless poverty which is the 
volcano of governments. There will be one land, at least, 
where the multitude is not chained to a hopeless toil for the 
benefit of an idle aristocracy, and compelled to live in pens that 
their masters may live in palaces ; one land where the people 
are not doomed to coin their blood into gold for the coffers of 
kings, or pour it on the ground for military despots ; there 
shall be one land, at least, where the people are their own mas- 
ters, where man has his rights, and where freedom is free ! 
Nor is this all. This does not finish her duty, nor accomplish 
her destiny. Her rising glory, like the ascending sun, is to il- 
lumine and bless the world. 

With her sons, true-hearted, strong, just, wise, brave and 
good ; her daughters as beautiful as the flowers in her gardens, 
as pure as the dew. on her flowers, and as useful as the pol- 
ished stones of her palaces ; her homes the fountains of 
true patriotism ; her schools the crystal wells of learning ; her 
altars the beautiful gates of heaven — what may not our country 
accomplish of the allotted task of retrieving the fallen fortunes 
of mankind, of breaking the chains which bind the bodies and 
souls of men, and of bringing the crazed world away from the 
polluted graves of the dead past, to sit clothed and in its right 
mind at the feet of its great Deliverer. Our Eepublic is indeed 
the hope of the world, and surely Eepublican homes are the 
hope of the Republic. 



*f c. 



MEETING- OF THE ALUMNI. 



The Annual meeting of the Association of the Alumni of the University 
of the City of New- York, was held in the Council Room of the University on 
Wednesday, June 20, 1861, at 4 p.m. 

The meeting was called to order by the President of the Association, 
John T. Johnston, Esq. The minutes of the last annual meeting weie read 
by the Secretary, and approved. The Treasurer made a satisfactory report 
of the receipts of the Association from voluntary donations, and of the dis- 
bursements, and was followed by the Register, who, in the course of an ex- 
ceedingly interesting report, stated, that although the University was 
comparatively a young institution, she had graduated 2878 students ; of 
which number 577 had received the degree of A. B., 2242 the degree of 
M.D., 8 the degree of B.S., and 51 the degree of L.L.B. Of those receiving 
the degree of A.B., 24G have received the additional degree of A.M., and 
1 73 have entered the ministry. She also numbers among her graduates 
three Presidents of Colleges, namely, J. E. Caldwell Doremus, D.D., class 
of 1836, President of Anama College, Anama, Texas; Arthur Cleveland 
Coxe, D.D., class of 1838, President of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. ; 
and J. Morrison Reed, D.D., class of 1839, President of Genesee Col- 
lege, Lima, N. Y. The whole report was listened to with great interest 
by the Alumni, and was one of the most pleasing features of the an- 
nual gathering. It will increase in interest as each alumnus learns to 
consider his cooperation with the Register as absolutely essential to the 
correctness of the report as a perfect record of all facts relating to the 
Alumni. It is to be hoped that at the next annual meeting, through such 
cooperation, the Register Mill be able to present, not only general facts, but 
also a record of all the alumni now living, and sketches of the lives of those 
who have died since graduating. 






24 MEETING OF THE ALUMNI. 

The report of the Executive Committee, giving a short sketch of the do- 
ings of the year, was read and approved. 

The Association then went into the election of officers for the ensuing 
year. A Nominating Committee was appointed, who retired for consulta- 
tion, and the result was, that the gentlemen whose names precede the 
oration were unanimously chosen as such officers. 

The Classes were in the mean while called in the order of graduation, be- 
ginning with the oldest class; when the following members answered to 
their names : 

Class of 1833. 

" 1834. W. R. Gordon. 

" 1835. J. A. Saxton. 

" 1836. W. B. Wedgwood. 

" 1837. 

" 1838. 

" 1839. Edward Hopper, John T. Johnston, B. F. Stead, Richard H. 

Bull. 
" 1840. Robert Dodge, A. G. Vermilye. 
" 1841. F. W. Geisenhainer, Jr. 
" 1842. Frederick G. Clark. 
" 1843. 

" 1844. Howard Crosby, T. B. Stirling. 
" 1845. J. F. Clapp. 
" 1846. 

u 1847. Wilson Phraner, S. Lockwood, A. S. Gardiner. 
u 1848. Smith E. Lane, Hugh L. Bond, A. V. Clarkson, James 

Sinclair. 
". 1849. W. A. Stirling. 

" 1850. G. Griswold Gray, W. C. Nichols, Henry M. Baird. 
M 1851. R. J. Brown, Austin Abbot, W. H. Knouse. 
" 1852. James B. Williams, John A. Foster, J. H. Sinclair. 
" 1853. P. Harwood Vernon, John W. Bennett, Joseph Nimmo. 
" 1854. W. W. Stephenson, F. R. Myers, Howard A. Martin, Walter 

E. Smith, H. C. Gibson. 
" 1855. Edward Robinson, Jr. 
" 1856. G. Chevalier. 
" 1857. Thomas S. Mount. 
" 1858. R. L. Van Kleek. 
" 1859. M. S. Isaacs. 



MEETING OF THE ALUMNI. 25 

Class of 1860. George D. Baker, A. A. Redfield, W. H. Wilson, H. B. Op- 
dyke, John McVay, Charles Fitzsimmons, Erskine Uhl, 
I. C. Shaw. 
" " 1861. Fred. Gallatin, Lemuel Skidmore, Charles Woolsey, H. M. 
Robinson, Thomas B. Morris, John F. Phayre, James G. 
Derrickson, James C. Nightingale, Wm. H. B. Post. 

GRADUATES OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

Class of 1861. C. H. Wade. 

GRADUATES OF THE LAW DEPARTMENT. 

Class of 1860. W. S. Hornfager, A. P. Bates. 
" 1861. H. S Bradford. 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

Rev. Isaac Ferris, D.D., LL.D., Chancellor of the University. 
Prof. Benjamin N. Martin, A.M. 

The Classes of 1833, 1837, 1838, 1843, 1846, were the only ones unrep- 
resented. 

On motion, the Secretary was authorized to appoint one member from 
each class who would undertake the collection of facts relating to members 
of his own class, their official positions, residences, marriages, deaths, etc., 
and report them to the Register before the next annual meeting. 

The thanks of the Association were voted to the Rev. Edward Hop- 
per, A.M., class of 1839, for the able address delivered before the Associa- 
tion on the previous evening ; and he was requested to furnish a copy of 
the same for publication. Mr. Hopper, in a few pertinent remarks, ex- 
pressed his obligation to the Association for their kind appreciation of his 
address, and his willingness to conform to their wishes. 

The President of the Association congratulated the members on the 
marked improvement in the attendance at the meeting, owing, he believed, 
to extra exertions being used, and hoped that the number would continue 
to increase until each class should be fully represented at every meeting ; and 
then the certainty felt by each one that he would meet friends and class- 
mates would insure a general attendance without effort, and thus add greatly 
to the interest of future meetings. 

The President then called upon the members for remarks, when Judge 
Hugh L. Bond, class of 1848, spoke eloquently and patriotically, and 
was followed by Rev. Dr. Yermilye, class of 1840 ; Rev. Dr. Gordon, class 
of 1834; Prof. Martin ; Dr. Stirling, class of 1844 ; Chancellor Ferris; Mr. 



26 MEETING OF THE ALUMNI. 

Skidmore, the valedictorian of the day, who spoke for the class of 1861 ; and 
many others, in speeches appropriate to the occasion, and which were lis- 
tened to with great interest. 

A collation was furnished after the adjournment of the meeting, which 
appealed with great effect to the sympathies of the Alumni, and redounded 
much to the credit of Dr. Stirling, Chairman of the Committee, under whose 
supervision it had been prepared. Before the members separated, Rev. Mr. 
Clark, class of 1842, suggested that the circular to be issued next year 
should state " what a good time we had this year," which suggestion met 
the entire approbation of all. The meeting was the largest, in point of 
numbers, that has been held since the formation of the Association, 
and it is safe to say that every one present went away well pleased and 
pledged to come again next year, and bring with him, if possible, a class- 
mate or friend who had not been present this year. 

HANSON C. GIBSON, Secretary. 



CONSTITUTION 



OF THE 



ASSOCIATION OF THE ALUMNI 



UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



Article I. — The Association of the Alumni shall be composed of 
the graduates of the University of the City of New-York, in all its depart- 
ments. 

Article II. — The Faculties of the University shall, ex officio, be con- 
sidered members of the Association. 

Article III. — The objects of the Association shall be the cultivation 
of fraternal intercourse among its members, and the advancement of the 
honor and interests of the University. 

Article IV. — The Officers of the Association shall be a President, 
a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Register ; and these 
officers, together with four other members resident in the City of New- 
York, to be chosen for that purpose at the Annual Meeting, shall consti- 
tute an Executive Committee. 

Article V. — It shall be the duty of the President to preside at all 
meetings of the Association. He shall decide all questions of order, sub- 
ject to an appeal to the Association. He shall also appoint all Committees 
authorized by the Association, unless otherwise specially ordered. It shall 
also be his duty to call special meetings at the request of the Executive 
Committee. 

4 



26 CONSTITUTION. 

Article VI. — The Vice-President shall assist the President in the 
erformance of his duties, and preside in his absence. 

Article VII. — It shall be the duty of the Secretary to give due 
notice of the time and place of all meetings of the Association ; to attend 
the same and keep a record of the proceedings thereof; to conduct the 
general correspondence ; to keep the roll of graduates, and present the 
same at each regular meeting. 

Article VIII. — It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to receive and 
keep an account of all funds, and disburse the same under the direction of 
the Executive Committee. He shall make a report at each Annual Meeting. 

Article IX. — It shall be the duty of the Register to collect all facts 
in regard to the Alumni, their official positions, marriages, deaths, etc., 
and report at the Annual Meeting in June, and at the Annual Dinner. 

Article X. — It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to re- 
commend plans for promoting the objects of the Association ; to digest 
and prepare business ; to authorize the disbursement and expenditure of 
unappropriated moneys in the hands of the Treasurer ; as also, generally 
to superintend the interests of the Association, and execute all such duties 
as may from time to time be committed to them by the Association. They 
shall meet regularly for the transaction of business on the Monday pre- 
ceding Commencement, and on the first Monday in November, February, 
and May. And if any member of the Committee, not an officer of the 
Association, shall be absent from two successive meetings, without reasons 
therefor satisfactory to the Committee, the Committee shall have power to 
declare his place vacant, and to fill such vacancy by a new appointment. 
The Committee shall preserve a record of their proceedings, and have 
power to make the necessary By-Laws for their own government. The 
officers of the Association shall also be the officers of the Executive Com- 
mittee ; and at all meetings, three members shall constitute a quorum for 
the transaction of business. At each Annual Meeting of the Association, 
the Executive Committee shall present a detailed report of their proceedings 

Article XI. — On the evening preceding Commencement in each year 
there shall be an address delivered before the Association by one of its 
own members, to be designated for that purpose by the Executive Com- 
mittee. And other literary exercises may be added at the discretion of the 
Committee. 



CONSTITUTION. 27 

Article XII. — The Association shall hold an Annual Meeting on 
Commencement-day in each and every year, at which a general election of 
officers for the ensuing year, by ballot, shall take place, 

The following shall he the Order of Business : 

1. Reading of Minutes of last meeting. 

2. Reports and Communications from Officers of the Society. 

3. Reports of Executive and other Committees. 

4. Election of Officers. 

5. Miscellaneous Business. 

Article XIII. — This Constitution shall not be altered or amended 
except at the Annual Meeting of the Association, and with the concurrent 
vote of two thirds of the members present. 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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